ReCreatable: How God Heals the Brokenness of Life
by Nathan Trimble
“Our lives may be utterly broken, but they are not irretrievably broken.”[1] This is the message of ReCreatable (Kregal, 2014) by author and pastor, Kevin Scott.
Scott is an ordained pastor, who currently serves on the pastoral staff of Stephen Ministries in St. Louis. There he writes, leads project teams, and teaches at workshops and training courses. For six years, he has served as a bi-vocational pastor in Indiana. Scott holds a bachelor’s degree (Bible and Theology, Welch College), and an M.A. (Exegetical Theology, Covenant Seminary).
Purpose
Compact in size, ReCreatable is written specifically for the Christian who genuinely knows Christ and whose goal is to “become mature adults – to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13 CEB).[2] Scott suggests to the reader that everyone is broken, and that God wills that every human life would conform to Christ, and reveal His image—or what the author calls “being human.”[3]
In order to become more human and to heal our brokenness, Scott recommends that we “reflect [Christ’s] glory, by living well, in a pocket of the kingdom.”[4] These three phrases remind us that this process is a practical, day-by-day walking with Christ that makes us disciples. In ReCreatable, Scott emphasizes the particulars, and the application for daily discipleship. In fact, its practicality is one of its strengths.
Structure
Everyone is broken, but God is holy: Scott establishes this as a baseline for his text. This explanation of why people need Christ sets the stage for how we should be disciples in God’s kingdom. Almost immediately he exposes the reality that God is wholly other, and that it is our purpose to reconnect with God through a relationship with Him. Central to his argument is the example of Adam and Eve in Eden to show the connection of the divine and human in his chapter, “Intersection.” This garden (or temple, or sanctuary, as the author calls it) now lives inside of us as God’s followers.
Once Scott has captured the essence of God, and our natural state of being, he moves on to discuss what it takes to sustain faith in daily motion. He has no qualms about the typical struggles that we Christians face in the church, the home, and our personal time with God. He tackles such dilemmas with insight by focusing on Whom God is, and less on whom we are, never forgetting that the duality of our sin and right standing with God is dependent on Him. Scott synthesizes this plainly in his chapter on worship when he states, “Humans are finite; God is infinite. We are sinful; God is holy. We mess up; God is perfect. We break things; God puts them back together.”[5]
Scott illustrates most of his arguments with practical examples throughout each chapter. From the very beginning, ReCreatable is a down-to-earth, genuine book, capable of teaching any disciple. The book is replete with useful tips and questions, and may be best used as a study guide for being a disciple. At the conclusion of each chapter, Scott poses questions that could be used for reflection in an individual study or a small group setting.
Critique & Conclusion
ReCreatable has numerous positive qualities, many of which I’ve mentioned already. For its many redeeming qualities, however, at least two characteristics might frustrate some readers (as it did me). First, in seeking to simplify the material presented, Scott uses shortened one or two word phrases as complete sentences. Perhaps this would aid in reading ease for some readers, but it distracted me.
Second, the author’s approach to Bible reading raised some questions for me. In the chapter, “Scripture,” Scott transparently explains how often and when to read the Bible. He begins the chapter by saying, “I do not read my Bible every day.” He does this to draw the reader in. He follows this by casually explaining, “It just doesn’t seem to work best that way for me.”[6] His point is obvious, namely, that it is not the amount of Scripture that makes one any more or less of Christ’s disciple, but rather that he “meditates on it day and night.” Scott illustrates this point by using other examples of fictional books that help him to internalize the stories. He thus effectively shows that the purposeful reading the Bible should be contemplative behavior. Nevertheless, the casualness behind reading Scripture and the application of such a central facet of a Christian relationship led me desiring more discussion and explanation in this chapter.
Other than these two minor points, ReCreatable is very helpful. Scott helpfully remedies the fault with which most Christian faith books are plagued: the inability to apply to the here and now. Scott doesn’t offer lofty goals, stringent commitments, or accountability techniques. Scott shies away from the normal and breaks through with fundamental questions with which most Christians struggle to answer, and does so in a simplified format.
Above all else, ReCreatable facilitates discussion in the community of believers and in the heart of the individual. It is a purposeful and practical book that is primarily concerned with helping us to learn “to walk with Christ.”[7]
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About the Author: Nathan Trimble and his wife Delaney, live in Belton, Texas and are members at First Baptist Church of Belton. He is involved in ministry at Mid-Tex Young Life, serving on the Area Committee. Nathan is a graduate from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee with a degree in History. He is currently an Infantry Officer in the United States Army, serving as a Company Executive Officer, in Afghanistan.
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[1] Kevin Scott, ReCreatable: How God Heals the Brokenness of Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2014), 30.
[2] Ibid., 65.
[3] Ibid., 29.
[4] Ibid., 13.
[5] Ibid., 173.
[6] Ibid., 151.
[7] Ibid., 12.
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